RL Anger

Tinuviel

Normally, when you get a cold, you can more or less function with a a combination of water, DayQuil, and pain killers, eventually shoving yourself at work.

I wish I got colds like that. I usually only manage to get the dreaded ManFlu.

Testament

@Tinuviel Usually, even with a cold, I'd likely go in. But this head cold, the stuffy brain feeling, the consistent headache. Those are what's sidelining me. If it was just stuffed up nose and achy body pains, I'd just deal. But considering I go through a lot of patient information and my job is more or less troublshooting samples so they can be processed correctly, I d rather not be mentally diminished with being unable to concentrate and/or focus.(yes, I am justifying my not going into work to strangers on the internet because the guilt is real, yo).

Also, what's a ManFlu.

Tinuviel

@Testament said in RL Anger:

Also, what's a ManFlu.

"Man flu is a phrase that refers to the idea that men, when they have a common cold, experience and self-report symptoms of greater severity, akin to those experienced during the flu."

In realistic terms, I have the immune system of a sparrow, so I get sicker more frequently and more severely than the average.

Testament

Fair enough.

Also, my work has this nasty habit of its employees coming in sick and then the illness spreading like a wildfire acting like the plague carriers that they are, and productivity goes through the floor which then results in management harping on us to stay at home. I get it though, a lot of us worry about losing jobs if we call in. It's an irrational fear(sometimes), but more than a few people will just come in and get everyone sick because they're worried about not coming in themselves. It's a vicious cycle.

So. I'm staying at home.

Wretched

@Aria This is how I describe my depression/anxiety/panic attack stuff to my wife. I have an asshole living inside my head, and oh bad days when i think or talk, it's like this infernal asshole monkey imp that is flinging shit to make things worse. On most days I dont actually believe the shit it is trying to convince me of, but sometimes it's rally hard. So picturing it as some snide little trolly asshole, helps, and it helps explain to someone who's never dealt with it.

Which is why sometimes it's hard to get thing out when were having a talk, because it feels like it's both trying to put words in my mouth, and blocking the words i'm trying to make.

'This minor inconvenience is shattering our marriage!!' -No it's not you dramatic fucktard shut up.

"None of your friends actually like you. They're just being polite." -Are they tho? Because my friends otherwise seem to just not hang with people they dont like.

Also this makes me feel like I am not alone, that somone else can describe what i am feeling. https://www.duffthepsych.com/depressionletter/

silverfox

@Testament

This sounds like elementary school....

Good gods if your child throws up please keep them home.

Testament

So I'm not really sure where to put this, so I'll put it here. Along with being sick, I've noticed my cat isn't feeling well either. He's had cold symptoms for awhile now, and I never took him to a vet for it simply because every single person I asked and web site I looked basically said the same thing; it's cold, nothing a vet can do. But he's had a cold since January. It's worried me, though this passed weekend it finally looked like he was getting over it.

Now we come to today. He's not eating, he's not drinking water, and he's been throwing up a lot of white foam. Normally, I know this is usually revolving around the fact that he has a hairball he's trying to get rid of and that can upset his stomach to the point where he doesn't feel like eating. But then, I noticed he's been doing it a lot, because I've been cleaning up after him. And the last time earlier tonight, it wasn't white, it was pink, with what I'm pretty sure is a very small amount of blood(like a coagulated thin small strand of blood).

What bothers me is his not drinking water. He will sit by the water dish, but not drink water. And much like looking at WebMD too much, after looking into why cats do that, it honestly terrified me, because it's an indicator of kidney problems. I have a vet appointment for him tomorrow morning. But it's so out of his personality. This cat loves food, to a very annoying degree, it's really the only thing he does that grates at me. Now, I miss it. My girlfriend suggested baby food, and thankfully he did eat that, but not a lot, and only when I fed to him on a spoon for him to lick off. Maybe a third of the container? But considering he usually wolfs down half a can of cat food per day, it's not what I'm used to.

The odd thing is this all happened overnight. Last night, he was begging for food and going to town on the water fountain like he always has been. Today, it's the exact opposite. I had to force his mouth open and pour spoonfulls of water down his throat just so I knew he wasn't going to dehydrate. Never had to do that, save for the times he had medication.

I admit, as a bearded, burly 36 year old man, I'm utterly terrified of losing my cat who has been my constant companion for near on 15 years. I know, I know, the rational part of my brain tells me I should be lucky I've had this much time with him, but irrational part of me says that why can't I have 18 years with him.

I know my old man is in his twilight years, but the thought of him not being at the door to scream at me for food when I get home from work is a thought of emptiness I'm not sure I can handle right now.

I wish it was morning so I could take him to the vet. I just want him to be okay. I want the vet to throw some meds at me that I have to give him everyday. I want his final years to be happy and functional and I don't want to keep him alive for my sake alone. If it's his time, then it's his time, but, goddamnit, I know a part of me is going to be destroyed by it. He's the best pet I've ever had. So very much uncat like. Never gets on counters, never aggressive. Always just wants affection. And food. All the food ever.

Apart of me feels guilty, that I took so much of that for granted. That he would want on my lap, and I'd set him next to me on the couch because my laptop was already occupying my attention. You always think, "There's more time for that later." There is, but you take it for granted. You take so much of it for granted.

I don't know what to do. I just needed to rant into the void that why can't our pets live as long as us.

Go. Hug your pet. Your cat. Your dog. Your rat. Even your pet alligator for the weirdos out there. Maybe I'm being dramatic, and maybe I took for granted how relatively healthy my cat has been for so long. I hope he's okay. That's is something treatable like gastritis(That's my other, less terrifying guess to his issues right now, so I'm more hopeful for that than some liver or kidney issue).

Pandora

@Testament I'm not crying, my eyes are just sweaty. It'll be morning soon enough, and I'm here hoping it's something they can throw meds at, for both your sakes.

ZombieGenesis

@Testament My thoughts are with you man. I hope you find out some good news at the vets and you get several more happy years with your friend. Good luck.

Ganymede

@Testament said in RL Anger:

Now we come to today. He's not eating, he's not drinking water, and he's been throwing up a lot of white foam. Normally, I know this is usually revolving around the fact that he has a hairball he's trying to get rid of and that can upset his stomach to the point where he doesn't feel like eating. But then, I noticed he's been doing it a lot, because I've been cleaning up after him. And the last time earlier tonight, it wasn't white, it was pink, with what I'm pretty sure is a very small amount of blood(like a coagulated thin small strand of blood).

This happened to my cat recently.

I'm not a veterinarian, but it may have to do with what you're feeding your cat. I used to feed mine IAMS Indoor Hairball food, but my cat started throwing it up on the regular. Switched to a Hill's Prescriptive Diet for digestive assistance, and that fixed the "keeping food down" bit, but he was still tossing up blood-tinged mucus on the regular. Switched to Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein diet, and that seemed to cut down on the throwing up, but my cat doesn't like the food and has been losing weight over the past couple of weeks.

After tests and three vet appointments, I can confirm that there's no internal problem. Likely due to age, my cat may have an ulcer or two that won't go away quickly. He's ten years old. So, I imagine that your cat may be going through the same thing. And, yeah, flipping happened fairly quickly.

You might want to think about adjusting his diet on the regular. Going to a place like Banfield (which is attached to Petsmart) may allow you to get a prescription for special food, as I had to in order to get the two non-IAMS varieties above. And they cost a pretty penny too: the Royal Canin I had to buy in a massive sack that set me back $70.

Tinuviel

I don't know if this counts as anger or peeve... but I've had a publication rejected. For suitable reasons, not politics or bureaucracy, but still. It's a kick in the teeth. My entire real life revolves around publication, and any kind of rejection is a fuck up. Ugh.

Aria

@Ganymede and @Testament

I hope your kitties get better. I really, really do. One of ours got out recently and was gone for several days and I was an ugly snot-crying wreck, so I know the feeling. But....

As for prescription food? Chewy.com, for reals. Our little runaway is on a prescription diet because he got several urinary blockages in a row, badly enough that they, uhhhh, switched up some of his little kitty plumbing. He needs special food to keep the problem from recurring still, and we uploaded the prescription once, set it to autoship, and got a discount for having stuff sent to our front door. Cheapest I could find it and I don't have to do a damned thing except recycle the shipping box.

Ganymede

@Aria said in RL Anger:

I hope your kitties get better. I really, really do. One of ours got out recently and was gone for several days and I was an ugly snot-crying wreck, so I know the feeling. But....

Gay Edward is just fine, I think. He's just so skinny right now. But he's a purring cuddle machine, nonetheless, and I'm hoping that the stomach ulcer (I think) issue has cured itself, so the poor thing can eat better food than the hydrolyzed protein crap that cost me fucking $70 bucks because, no, you can't get a small bag, you have to get the bag used to feed fucking huskies.

Aria

@Ganymede

....We have five cats. We didn't want to have five cats. We wanted to have two cats, but we live in West Philly where cats just kind of happen to you. The little bags of food are adorable and I presume used solely for a light afternoon snack.

Ghost

My friend has gotten into investigating for MUFON and he's trying to tap my SO and I as "ghost hunters" with him.

Fuck. My. Life.

Aria

@Ghost said in RL Anger:

My friend has gotten into investigating for MUFON and he's trying to tap my SO and I as "ghost hunters" with him.

Fuck. My. Life.

I kind of want to know what that is, but also generally don't type random shit from MSB into my Google search. You jerks are how I learned what incels are.

Ghost

@Aria Mutual UFO Network. Regular people who X-File and document a worldwide network of UFO/paranormal phenomena (phenomenon? Phenomenae?Mana-Mana).

I should expound. Every one of these guys likes to talk about themselves as unbiased investigators, but each and every one has "first-hand eye witness testimony" details prepared for the day some History Channel show wants to interview them. My SO wants to get involved every now and then.

They wanna do stuff like: Hanging out on a hill in the wilderness and watch the sky with night vision goggles for 6 hours. OMFGBORING and I'd have to bring the Nintendo Switch or weed or something because it would literally be watching stars that take years for their light to get to our planet for signs of alien life.

So...stuff like remote viewer "experts" and psychics doing hard-nosed paranormal investigation.

Like...I'm half considering promoting myself as a psychic remote viewer and claiming I used to be involved in secret underground battle royale psychic cage fighting just so feel awesome when people go "Fascinating, what was that like???" because the plausible deniability is like -14 with these people.

ETA: So help me god, I am not going to some wilderness camping scenario to stare at the sky and wait for some satellite to fly by and everyone gasp because its MechaJesusRudolph unless I'm getting snuck off back to the cars to get laid twice. Then? I'd go, put in my hours, carsex, and then Battle Chasers on Switch.

Aria

@Ghost Ohh, WOW. That's, like, a train-wreck of amazing insanity. And I really do mean that in the best possible way. It's getting harder and harder to find any good conspiracy theorist nutjobs to slurp delicious schadenfreude from these days because post-recession, you can't really tell who is legitimately going on deranged rants about international bankers and who is just waving a giant red flag of anti-Semitic bullshit that they can fuck off with.

Ghost

@Aria Preeeeeetty much.

It's somewhat fascinating to see the little differences between these people, because they seem to have central themes that are the same, but with little differences so that each are unique, kind of like BSG MU characters.

BSG

I'm a Raptor pilot, but I'm a chef
I'm a Raptor pilot, but I'm a painter
I'm a Raptor pilot, but I'm a pyramid nut

MUFON

I'm a remote viewer who is also a cop
I'm a remote viewer who was in the Air Force
I've seen aliens and they stole my dog
I've seen aliens and was later asked for a cigarette by a guy in a tie and I just know it was a Man in Black intimidating me
I've seen aliens and am EMT certified and have insight into their biology.
I've seen aliens and they stole my ~~dog~~ (GOD DAMN IT STEVE, WE'VE ALREADY GOT ONE OF THOSE) cat.

Ghost

And they've all got a story...

It's never "eh, I think there might be aliens out there and just wanna be on the inside track for when something pretty sweet happens..."

Instead, almost every one of them has this quasi-practiced story: "It was the summer of 1982 and I was in the high desert. It was a normal night such as any other..."

Yeah, c'mon Hemmingway.